


Just Dropping In

by WhiskersandQuiff



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Halloween, Halloween Month, M/M, October, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Spooky, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-11 00:55:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12311457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiskersandQuiff/pseuds/WhiskersandQuiff
Summary: Prompt from Phanfic (several months ago whoops): Soulmate AU where the first thing your soulmate says to you is tattooed on you from when you were born. Dan's could say some kind of scream/growl and Phil's something along the lines of "jesus on a fucking bicycle" (spooky week) because they first meet in a haunted house that phil is a character/working in.Dan's got an unusual soulmate mark that doesn't make much sense, until he goes to a haunted house one day...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween month!

Dan was sick of soulmates. He was tired of people talking about them, showing him their marks, asking for his marks, or asking about his soulmate. Most people's lives revolved around finding soulmates, whether their own or butting into everyone else's business to bring them their "true happiness" or whatever. Dan was just done with it all. Every time he showed someone the mark on his collarbone, he was met with the same confusion he had always had about the mark. 

His mark was excessively abnormal. You see, everyone had a mark on their body somewhere that said the first thing their soulmate would ever say to them. What was so horrible about Dan's? It wasn't even a word, in any language. It simply didn't make sense. 

Every morning, Dan would take a few minutes to stare at his mark in the mirror, trying to figure out how he would meet his soulmate. It said "BRAAAAGGGGHHHHFFFFDDDDAAAHAHAHA." What the hell does that mean? What's it supposed to sound like? Dan wasn't sure how to pronounce such a thing, so how would he even know when he met his soulmate? On the one hand, he was lucky to have a soulmate; some people were born without a mate, causing them to be society's outcasts. Other people had generic quotes, like "hello" or "how do you do," which made it difficult to find your soulmate amidst other standard greetings, so Dan's unique mark should make it easy to identify his soulmate. On the other hand, Dan had no idea under what circumstances that whatever-it-was could be said and so didn't even know where to begin looking. 

\--------

"Come on, Dan, you have to stop moping around! Your birthday was months ago by now and you can't keep sitting around and hoping your soulmate will just drop right out of the sky and into your flat!" Dan's best friend, Louise, chided him on the phone. 

Dan rolled his eyes, even if she couldn't see him. "I'm not hoping they'll just drop out of the sky, I've given up hoping they'll find me ever," Dan replied sarcastically. "Besides, it's not like I've been moping since my birthday. I've been outside a few times, even talked to a few strangers. You should be proud."

"I know that you've reached the age where statistics say it's less likely that you'll find your soulmate but you just have to hold onto hope and keep talking to people. So, I've decided that you're coming with me to this dumb haunted house whether you want to or not. It's almost Halloween and we have to go do stuff together. I will drag you out of your flat if I have to," she threatened.

"Fine, I'll come with you just so you don't keep pestering me. But not because I want to or because I think I'll find my soulmate. That would be ridiculous." 

"Whatever, Dan, I'll see you tonight." Louise hung up the phone. 

Dan sighed. He knew he was being a bit overdramatic, but he was 24 years old. He should have found his soulmate by now, as everyone kept reminding him. Spending time outside his flat was just another prod in the side as he saw happy couples wandering around. He sighed again, trying to stop his own thoughts before they could spiral out of control and launched him into another panic attack, wondering if his soulmate was even alive. 

Dan shook himself out of his thoughts and rose from his bed to get ready for the haunted house. He was determined to enjoy himself, at least this once, because he was tired of being upset about his soulmate. He'd spent too long worrying about it and he was done. He can spend time with friends and have fun for once. 

\-------

So far, Dan was underwhelmed by the haunted house. He was having a bit of fun, sure, as Louise was utterly terrified, but he wasn't all that scared. Maybe creeped out a bit, but nothing all that scary had jumped out at him just yet. They were the last group of the night, having arrived as late as possible to add to the spookiness, but it wasn't working for him as well as Louise. 

"Oh my god oh my god Dan we're gonna die," Louise chanted next to him. 

"We're not gonna die, Louise, it's just an act. There's nothing actually here and there's no such thing as the supernatural so calm down," Dan explained for probably the fifth time in the last five minutes. 

"Right, there's no such thing as the supernatural. Yeah, you're right. There's no such thing as the supernatural," Louise repeated quietly, obviously trying to convince herself. She was nodding to herself, as well. "There's no such thing as the supernatural. I'm fine, this is all fake, because there's no such thing as the supernatu-"

"BRAAAAGGGGHHHHFFFFDDDDAAAHAHAHA!"

"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST ON A MOTORCYCLE!" Dan screamed as someone jumped at him and Louise from the rafters wearing a black morph suit with glowing red eyes. Louise was screaming, too, trying to climb her way into his arms out of terror. 

The morph suit, which had been starting to walk towards them to make them run to the next room, stopped suddenly. 

"Wait, what did you just say?" a male voice, coming from the morph suit, asked. 

Dan and Louise were frozen, still panting after the terror of the jump scare. Dan was holding one of Louise's legs around his waist, the other leg dangling, as Louise's arms were wrapped around his neck. 

Dan blinked, rational thought returning to him for a moment. He cleared his throat, slowly lowering Louise to the floor. She had her face buried in his chest and wouldn't let go of his neck. 

“I-I don't know what I just said. I was a bit shocked, to be fair. Why do you ask?" Dan was highly suspicious, now. This was dangerously close to seeming like a soulmate situation, if you asked him. 

"Well- hold on, let me take this mask off," the morph suit replied. He removed the mask. "It's hard to talk around that thing. I'm only asking because what you said sounded a lot like my soulmate mark."

Dan's jaw dropped open. "I- what?" 

"I mean, I suppose you two are probably soulmates, so I don't really know why I'd think that, that was dumb. Sorry to ruin the haunted house experience with my awkwardness," the man rambled. 

Dan snorted. "Me and her?" He pointed at Louise, who was now realizing that she wasn't in danger and slowly removing her head from Dan's chest. "We're not soulmates. That would be awful, wouldn't it, Lou?" He laughed again. "So awkward." 

Dan took a closer look at the morph suit man's face in the low lighting. Now that he wasn't trying to scare the pants off of them, he was really attractive. He had high cheekbones and pale skin and Dan was definitely getting ahead of himself. 

Suddenly, something occurred to him. His eyes widened. "Oh my god. Did you yell when jumped out at us?"

The morph suit man was looking around awkwardly from Dan's reaction to his outburst, but looked up now. "Um, yeah? I think so?" 

"What did you yell?" Dan asked urgently, heart beating fast. 

"Uhhh something like 'braaagh!' I guess?" 

Dan impatiently pushed a still-disoriented Louise off of him slightly and pulled down the collar of his shirt, exposing his soulmate mark. "This?"

The man's eyes widened. "Yeah, pretty much. I remember laughing at your reaction towards the end there, so I think so." As he said this, he pulled back the collar of his morph suit to show his own soulmate mark in a similar place to Dan's mark. There, in a messy black ink, were the words, "JESUS FUCKING CHRIST ON A MOTORCYCLE." 

Dan stared, still pulling his collar down. His mouth moved, trying and failing to form words. 

Louise, a few feet away, finally came to her senses and gasped, excitedly smacking Dan’s arm. "Oh my god, Dan! You found your soulmate! I told you not to give up hope!" 

Snapped back to reality, the morph suit man released his costume, covering up his mark again, and took a step forward. "I'm Phil. It's so nice to finally meet you." He held out a hand to shake. 

Dan continued staring for a few seconds before throwing himself into the man - Phil, his brain reminded him - in a desperate hug. Embarrassingly, he began to sob. "I- I'm D-d-dan," he said between gasps, "I'm s-sorry for crying b-but I've been w-waiting so long to m-meet you." 

Phil's arms pulled him impossibly closer. "Me, too," he whispered. 

They stood there for what felt like hours, just hugging each other as Dan cried into Phil's neck. Eventually, Louise gently reminded them that they were still in the haunted house and probably should leave. 

They left through a service hallway rather than going through the remainder of the haunted house. When they got to the front of the building, Louise decided to part ways with the new couple, who stood as close together as possible. 

Dan and Phil slowly walked to Dan's flat, as it was nearby. They spent the rest of the night just talking about themselves and getting used to being soulmates. 

"I'm so glad I found you," he said after they had been cuddling on the couch for awhile. 

Phil smiled. "I'm glad I found you, too. I can't imagine what it must have been like, having such a ridiculous mark."

Dan snorted out a laugh. "It was confusing, that's for damn sure. Everyone would be talking about soulmates and go 'Oh, Dan, what's your mark say?' And I'd be like 'braaghfhahaha' and they'd stare at me like I had lost my mind. When I show it to people, they're so confused that they just need to change the subject. It's quite funny, now that I've found you. I can't believe you just dropped into my life from the ceiling and scared the shit out of me."

"The best part of my job is scaring people like that. It's hilarious, although I do feel a bit bad sometimes if they're really terrified," Phil commented. “You should’ve seen the look on your face, though. It was absolutely priceless,” he said with a giggle.

“Hey! Shut up!” Dan tried to look serious, but he couldn’t help the corners of his mouth lifting ever so slightly.

“And your scream was so high pitched I thought there was an eight-year-old girl somewhere that I couldn’t see,” Phil continued to tease.

“I’ll have you know that it was very manly! I even said the word ‘motorcycle’, that’s super manly.” Dan’s defenses were useless, only causing Phil to laugh harder. “You’re so mean, I hate you,” Dan whined.

“Of course you do,” Phil said fondly. 

They sat in silence for a few minutes, just looking at each other. 

“Thanks for scaring the shit out of me,” Dan remarked.

“Thanks for being so easily scared,” Phil replied. He leaned in, gently kissing Dan, before they settled and slowly drifted off to sleep.


	2. Phil's Upbringing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phil's mark certainly wasn't average, either, so what might his childhood have looked like?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I got several comments that inspired me to ponder Phil's side of the story, so here it is. This is Phil from birth through his side of meeting Dan. I hope you enjoy :)

Phil’s life had been… interesting, to say the least. Everyone had soulmate marks with the first words their soulmate would say to them on their arms. Some people had curious phrases, like “Oh my god, I am so sorry!” Or “I’m late!”, but most of them were the more common introductory phrases, like “Hi, it’s nice to meet you!” Some people even had a name on their arm, if they were lucky enough. Phil’s soulmate mark was one of the more curious ones. It had caused a few, shall we say, issues... 

When Phil was born, his parents were beyond excited to finally see the baby that had been growing for months. The doctors took the baby and cleaned him a bit, wrapping him in a blanket. 

“Do you see his soulmate mark?” asked Mr. Lester. “What does it say?” 

The doctor held in a laugh at the unexpected mark before handing Phil over to Mrs. Lester. “I think you’d better see for yourself.”

Mr. and Mrs. Lester were very confused; why didn’t she just say what it was?

Mrs. Lester lifted Phil a bit closer to her and saw the mark in small handwriting on his tiny collarbone. 

"Oh dear," she said, carefully showing it to her husband. 

"Oh dear, indeed," he replied. 

~~~~~~

Since then, Phil's parents were very careful to make sure his collarbone was covered. They were happy he had a mark, and it was very unique, at that, which meant he'd be able to find his soulmate easily, but it just wasn't quite appropriate for the average family pool day. 

Every time he got a new babysitter, they had to be warned about the mark so they wouldn't react too strongly when they saw it. Phil's poor parents apologized in advance every time just in case someone was offended by the harsh language. 

He always had to wear a shirt when he went swimming so other people couldn't read the mark (he had the worst farmer's tan in the world every summer because of it).

When Phil learned to read, he was very strictly told many times that he must never ever say that word because it was a very naughty word. 

When he was 6, they were taught about soulmates in school. He was told that the funny little words on his collarbone were gonna be the first words that his soulmate said to him. Phil burst into tears; how could his soulmate say something so very naughty as what was on his soulmate mark? Why would his soulmate say something so wrong? His teacher asked him what was the matter. 

"Mah- mah- mah- my soulmaaaaaate," he cried. "They're guh-guh-gonna say a naughty woooooord!" 

The teacher cooed and picked him up from his chair, which was a hard to do as he was a bit big for his age, and sat him on her lap in the chair she used for story time. All she could do was hold him and tell him it would be okay while getting the teacher's aid to distract the rest of the class with a soulmate story. 

At the end of the day, Phil's teacher told his parents about what had happened and how he had been so distraught because of it. To Phil's utter embarrassment, this became the most commonly told story at family dinners for the next several years. 

~~~~~~

Phil's first few days of secondary school were tough. Everyone seemed so much bigger, smarter, and older than he was and he constantly walked past people just randomly making out in the hallway, which was super gross every time, and his hair was an atrocious color because he had tried to dye it right before school started. He was definitely an odd one in the eyes of everyone else. 

And then they had to all go around and ask about soulmate marks. Phil always dreaded this, since he still wasn't allowed to say the very naughty word on his collarbone and he definitely did not want to say it in an icebreaker in class in front of his teacher, but there he was with the whole universe mocking him. 

"I'm Susie, and my mark just says 'what'." 

"I'm Mike and my mark says 'how are you'."

"I'm Phil, and- um, well- I can't say my mark." 

Phil felt the whole room blankly staring at him and shrank into his seat.

"Phil, you have to say your mark. Everyone else had to, now you have to. Come on, don't be shy," the teacher encouraged. 

"Well- it's just that- it's kind of offensive?" Phil desperately tried to explain. 

"Now, Phil, honey, you can't get out of this. What does it say?" Clearly, the teacher was beginning to get a bit annoyed. 

"If I say it out loud, you'll be mad at me," Phil tried to defend. 

"If you don't say it out loud, I will still be angry with you, Mr. Lester. Now, for the last time before I give you a detention, what does it say?" 

Phil didn't know why this mattered so much to the teacher, but he knew that he would definitely get in trouble if he stayed silent. She had even used his last name. He sighed, then mumbled, "Jesus bleeping Christ on a motorcycle."

"What was that, Mr. Lester?"

"Jesus bleeping Christ on a motorcycle," he said a little bit louder. 

"I still can't hear you, you'll have to speak u-"

"JESUS BLEEPING CHRIST ON A MOTORCYCLE!" he yelled. 

"Mr. Lester, I will not have yelling in my classroom! That is an unacceptable phrase at any volume and you still have not told us your soulmate mark. You will be staying after school today for detention!" the teacher shrieked. "Now, calmly tell me what your mark says!"

Phil groaned internally. "I did! That's what my mark says. If you don't believe me, it's just on my collarbone and I can show you, but I promise you that is what my mark says." 

The teacher looked absolutely furious. "That would be very inappropriate, Mr. Lester. As you insist on making a joke of my class, take yourself to the office. Go and do not come back today." 

A shocked, embarrassed, and discouraged Phil picked up his belongings and walked out of the room. It was still only his first day in the building, so he got turned around and lost while trying to find the office. When he managed to finally find it, the secretary chewed him out for how long it took him to get there as his teacher had called to explain the situation. 

It worked out alright in the end, however, as this incident warranted a phone call home and Phil's mom explained that, yes, his mark really does say that and he has been told he is not allowed to say that word. Phil got to return to class to a very apologetic teacher and a classroom full of weird looks. 

~~~~~~

As Phil grew up and finished school, he learned to appreciate his mark and even find the humor in it. It was still hard to explain, but it always got a laugh out of fellow adults. He was always an optimistic person, anyway, so he just decided not to worry about it. 

Years went by without meeting his soulmate, and Phil found himself graduating from college and getting a job but wanting something more. He loved his job, of course, but he was just a bit... bored. He saw an ad for jobs for a haunted house near where he lived and immediately knew that he had found an entertaining weekend job. 

A few weeks into his new job, he got a particularly good reaction from a group. The woman jumped on the man, who screamed something like "JESUS ON A FUCKING BICYCLE." Phil was laughing behind his mask so hard that he almost didn't realize what that could mean. When he did, he paused and dared to hope. He had never been this close to thinking he met his soulmate. Was he really destined to meet his soulmate at a haunted house? It seemed too strange to be true. He asked a few questions, but they clearly confused the haunted house goers. He didn't get a clear answer and figured he was wrong, beginning to backpedal. 

“I mean, I suppose you two are probably soulmates, so I don’t really know why I’d think that, that was dumb. Sorry to ruin the haunted house experience with my awkwardness,” Phil rambled. He didn't really know what he was saying, he was just mentally kicking himself for hoping as much as he did. But, then, the man stopped and squinted at him. 

Suddenly, his eyes widened. “Oh my god. Did you yell when you jumped out at us?” 

Phil's heart beat faster again. "Um, yeah? I think so?"

"What did you yell?"

Phil froze. What had he yelled? It wasn't even a word, but, maybe, "Something like 'braaagh!', I guess?" 

The man rolled his eyes and impatiently yanked down the collar of his shirt. "This?"

Phil's eyes widened and his heart was surely about to explode out of his chest. He began to pull down his own collar to reveal his tattoo as he said "Yeah, pretty much. I remember laughing at your reaction towards the end there, so I think so.” 

Phil tried to remember what he had mentally practiced doing when he thought of meeting his soulmate, but nothing would come to his mind. He was just staring at the man who had to be his soulmate. 

He was suddenly broken out of his shock by the woman, who exclaimed, "Oh my god, Dan! You found your soulmate! I told you not to give up hope!”

Dan, Phil thought. That must be his name. It's so perfect. He was truly smitten now, barely able to function around the instant affection and joy, but tried to compose himself to seem at least a little bit human. He put his hand out and said, “I’m Phil. It’s so nice to finally meet you." He was dying a bit on the inside with excitement and awe. 

There was a pause where Dan continued staring at Phil, making Phil believe he had done something wrong, before he found himself being tackled by Dan, barely managing to keep them both upright while returning the hug. Dan was properly sobbing, which Phil could totally understand. Once introductions were out of the way, Phil just held his sobbing soulmate for a few minutes, taking in how this was the beginning of a new chapter of his life that he had been waiting for ever since he could remember. 

Somehow, his soulmate tattoo didn't seem so offensive anymore. 

**Author's Note:**

> I also post to my Tumblr! See the rest of my fics [here](https://whiskersandquiff.tumblr.com/fics-masterlist)


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